Film festival to examine human rights worldwide

The Human Rights Monday Night Film Festival begins today (Jan. 24) with the screening of “Every Mother’s Son,” the first of eight independently produced videos designed to increase awareness of human rights issues. The festival is a collaboration between the University Libraries’ Multicultural Affairs Committee and the Human Values for Transformation Action organization.

The eight films to be shown on campus are part of a documentary film collection curated by the Human Rights Video Project. Developed by National Video Resources in partnership with the American Library Association Public Programs Office, the national library project encourages collaborations between libraries and human rights advocacy organizations. Major funding is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

All films will be shown from 6-8 p.m. in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Theater. The films shown during the festival include:

Jan. 24—“Every Mother’s Son,” about police brutality in the U.S. (2003, 60 min., closed-caption)

Feb. 21—“Long Night’s Journey into Day: South Africa’s Search for Truth and Reconciliation” (2000,
94 min.)

Feb. 28—“State of Denial,” about the HIV/AIDS crisis in South Africa (2003, 86 min., closed-caption)

March 21—“Calling the Ghosts,” about rape as a weapon of war (1996, 33 min., closed-caption) and “Behind the Labels: Garment Workers on U.S. Saipan” (2001, 45 min.)

March 28—“Life and Debt,“ about Jamaica’s economic woes at the hands of the International Monetary Fund (2001, 86 min., closed-caption)

April 11—“Promises,” about the daily lives of seven Israeli and Palestinian children around Jerusalem (2001, 106 min., closed-caption)

April 25—“Well-Founded Fear,” about the U.S. asylum application process for political refugees (2000, 119 min.)

Faculty and staff interested in borrowing the films for class viewing can do so by emailing eres@bgsu.edu two weeks in advance. For more information, contact Mary Wrighten at 2-7897 or mwright@bgnet.bgsu.edu. For details about the films, visit www.humanrightsproject.org.